La Mesa, CA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

La Mesa's Table of Dimensions for Building Sites, printed in Section 24.05.030(B), sets a forty percent lot-coverage ceiling for the city's five single-family zones: R1E (Semi-Rural Estate), R1R (Semi-Rural Residential), R1S (Suburban Residential), R1 (Urban Residential), and R1A (Urban Residential-Alternative). Note 4 under the table spells out what counts toward that limit: all buildings, including accessory buildings and structures, shall cover not more than forty percent of the lot area. That sweeps in garages, sheds, and other accessory structures alongside the house itself, though paved driveways, walkways, uncovered parking, unenclosed pools, walls, and fences are excluded from the coverage calculation under the code's separate definition of lot coverage in Section 24.01.100.

The table leaves the R2, R3, and RB cells for the coverage row blank, marked with a dash, so the city's multifamily and residential-business zones are not subject to this fixed percentage; those zones are instead governed by minimum net lot area per dwelling unit. One narrow relief valve exists for accessory dwelling units: Section 24.05.020(D)(8)(a)(iii) allows an extra five percent of lot coverage above the zone's normal limit for lots of ten thousand square feet or less that already have a single-family residence and are adding an ADU.